Havana, SAEDNEWS: Johana Tablada, the deputy director for US affairs at Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the remarks in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.
She criticized a series of statements by senior US officials following last week’s protests in Cuba, saying they were painting a false picture of the situation in the country.
“There is a Walt Disney narrative of a bad government and people fighting for their freedom — stereotypes that scare anyone who has never set foot in Cuba — because of their arrogance and disregard for the truth,” Tablada said.
“They are very interested in fabricating an alternative reality because the riots of July 11 weren’t enough to justify the war that is being waged on us,” she added.
Tablada said that while there were no current US military movements aimed at Cuba, there were signs of extreme aggressiveness similar to what led to interventions in Libya and Iraq.
“We are at a time when discourse has deteriorated to unprecedented levels,” she said, adding that “every day since July 11, senior United States officials are saying things that are not true” about Cuba.
Protest rallies erupted against the government of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel almost ten days ago. The unrest came amid Cuba’s worst economic crisis in 30 years, with chronic shortages of electricity and food exacerbated by brutal US sanctions.
The Cuban government blames the economic woes mainly on a US embargo and the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuba has also held Washington responsible for the recent unrest in the country, which led to at least one death and dozens of injuries and more than 100 arrests. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez says Washington is using high-tech digital systems to incite protests in the small island nation.
US weighs sanctions on Cuban officials over reaction to protests
Meanwhile, the administration of US President Joe Biden is considering sanctions on Cuban government officials over accusations of cracking down on protesters.
“The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is exploring designating Cuban officials responsible for violence, repression, [and] human rights violations against those peaceful protesters,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a news briefing on Wednesday (Source: PressTV).
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